This year my husband and I celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary. One key lesson I have learned in staying married to the same man for that long is that every day takes 100% investment of effort into our relationship. There is no 50/50 in a marriage, it’s all in for each partner. In the beginning it was much easier as we had a lot of hormones running amuck and were very young and immature about relationships. We didn’t realize the path to finding your happiness lay in helping someone else find their happiness. This lesson came to us after the second child and about ten years in when I realized that this man helped me be the best me I could be. And that every day he wakes up and asks me how he can make me happy today and I realize that I want the same thing for him.
How does this relate to your prospecting effort?
Too often we have a ‘routine’ we follow and it becomes something we ‘have to do’ instead of something we look forward to. We also fall into the routine and out of love with what connected us to our profession in the first place. Today we will take a bit of a different approach to see what has to shift to make it more enjoyable and yes, it can be the most fun part of your business!
- Align with your ‘why’ – Remember what an impact you actually make with your best clients. Devote a significant amount of your prospecting effort to engaging your great clients. If you have an account manager who is responsible for day to day service of the account, that’s fine, your best clients would still benefit from a strategic review with you on a quarterly basis. This also would keep you engaged with them to identify additional cross sell or referral opportunities. Win/Win!
- Look at who your favorite clients are and why – Look at the actual work that you do with the people you serve. Is there something about them in particular that makes it personally and emotionally fulfilling to work with them? I love serving entrepreneurs and solo professionals who have aggressive goals and the desire to reach them, no matter their limitations from a marketing or resource perspective. Every day I hear of their success and know I made a difference in someone’s life. That’s exciting!
- Stay closest to your biggest fan base – When you are deeply engaged with your best clients, they are in a position to introduce you to their colleagues and peers. Each client has the opportunity to reproduce themselves at least once each year within your book of business. I have several clients that introduce me to several fantastic prospects per month. Each and every one of them fitting the profile of my best clients. When you have a prospecting effort that is made up of people who come to you highly qualified, that need your best work and are excited to talk to you, think of what that interaction feels like? Pretty exciting isn’t it?
- Collaborate with other professionals – Create your ‘Dream Team’ of professionals who offer complimentary services to you. Develop joint marketing initiatives. Get off your island of solitude and find others who are like minded and play well with others. I have many clients who significantly expand their client base through solving problems of other professional’s best clients. If you wonder how you can reciprocate, refer back to point #1 on this post.
- Become the Master of your Trade– When you become truly gifted at solving big problems, having a huge impact and listening to raving fans share of their experience in working with you, that’s pretty cool. I can’t imagine ever doing anything but helping people grow, and every day I focus on how I can be better at my craft. Focus on expanding your knowledge and offering even more value to your perfect clients. Identify where and how you can innovate to follow their needs and serve even more people who look like them.
These are a few of my suggestions for creating a business you love and are excited to grow through a highly successful prospecting effort. I have clients start with me who are so terrified of prospecting they feel physically ill when they first think about what I’m asking them to do, then they begin incorporating a few of the strategies I’ve outlined here and before you know it, they begin to find success and enjoy the journey.
If you’d like to take a deeper dive into how to put these strategies to work in your prospecting effort, join me for an upcoming webinar, Breakthrough Prospecting Strategies. I’d love to help you recognize the changes you need to make in your prospecting effort to remain relevant.
Thanks for taking time with me today, I look forward to hearing how you re-awaken the passion in your prospecting!